‘Prosecution deceived me’: key witness against Uribe brother refuses to testify

[Judi Lynn]

‘Prosecution deceived me’: key witness against Uribe brother refuses to testify
May 14, 2014 posted by Tim Hinchliffe

The key witness in a criminal case against the younger brother of former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe is refusing to continue cooperating with authorities until the Prosecutor General’s Office can guarantee his safety, local media reported Wednesday.

Retired National Police Major Juan Carlos Meneses has repeatedly accused Santiago Uribe of links to the former paramilitary organization, “Los 12 Apsosteles,” and was the key witness in the case being mounted against the central Colombian business man. Uribe is the younger brother of former President Alvaro Uribe, himself the subject of various similar accusations.

Meneses — a former fugitive who turned himself in to authorities in January on charges relating his own alleged involvement with the 12 Apostles — is now claiming, however, that the authorities have failed to comply with the agreed upon terms of his testimony and that his life is in danger as a result.

“I am going to decline (to testify), because the Prosecutor General’s Office deceived me. A bargain was made about my place of detention, and they sent me to the place where the hired killer that I was pointing to as a member of the 12 Apostles is,” he said.

More:
http://colombiareports.co/prosecution-deceived-key-witness-uribes-brothers-paramilitary-trial/#prettyPhoto

[Judi Lynn]

1. Background story on the hideous situation with the brother of the former President:

Farmhand is star witness in investigation against Uribe’s brother
Sep 30, 2013 posted by Charlie de Rivaz



Santiago Uribe

The investigation into the links between Santiago Uribe – the brother of former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe – and paramilitary death squads was reopened last week after the testimony of a new witness, a former farmhand, according to newspaper El Espectador.

The evidence given in August by Eunisio Alfonso Pineda Lujan – who used to milk cows, feed pigs and muck out paddocks in the farm next to Uribe’s – added to the 2010 testimony of a retired police major, Juan Carlos Meneses, was considered by the Prosecutor General to be sufficient to reopen the investigation into Santiago Uribe and his alleged links with paramilitaries.

The last investigation had been closed in 2000 for lack of evidence.

Santiago Uribe was allegedly involved in the creation of a paramilitary death squad known as “The 12 Apostles” who operated between 1993 and 1994 in the area of Yarumal, northern Antioquia, where the Uribe family ranch – “Finca Carolina” – was located, and where Uribe’s brother Alvaro was governor from 1995 to 1998.

Santiago Uribe is also implicated in the murder of Camilo Barrientos Duran on February 25, 1994, at Finca Carolina.

More:
http://colombiareports.co/farmhand-star-witness-investigation-uribes-brother/

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Uribe’s brother could face trial for crimes against humanity
Oct 17, 2013 posted by Peter Bolton

A group of lawyers are seeking court proceedings to try a paramilitary group and their alleged founder, the brother of former President Alvaro Uribe, for crimes against humanity.

This petition was presented on Thursday as part of a series of accusations against Santiago Uribe for his alleged involvement in aggravated conspiracy and links with paramilitary groups.

A spokesman for the lawyers group, Daniel Prado, said before the hearing that “today we will request that the crimes committed by the paramilitary group be tried as crimes against humanity.”

~snip~
The Uribe family has long faced accusations of ties to death squads aligned with paramilitary umbrella organization AUC; The former president is currently investigated for forming the “Bloque Metro” paramilitary group while cousin Mario, a former Senate president, was convicted for using paramilitary intimidation to get elected into Congress.

http://colombiareports.co/12-apostles-plus-brother-former-president-face-trial-crimes-humanity/

[Judi Lynn]

2. Fugitive key witness in Uribe brother’s paramilitary case turns himself in

Fugitive key witness in Uribe brother’s paramilitary case turns himself in
Jan 27, 2014 posted by Philipp Zwehl

The key witness in a criminal case against the brother of former President Alvaro Uribe for being a paramilitary leader in the 1990s, turned himself in after years in Venezuela, weekly Semana reported on Monday.

Former police major Juan Carlos Meneses fled the country after facing threats following his accusation that Santiago Uribe, the younger brother of the former Colombian president, of being the leader of a local paramilitary group in a town where the Uribe family had a business.

In his 2010 testimony, Meneses accused Uribe of being the head of “The 12 Apostles,” a fearsome paramilitary group that was active around the town of Yarumal, Antioquia during the 90s.

Under Uribe’s alleged leadership, the group carried out “social cleansing” operations during which alleged sympathizers to leftist rebel groups like the FARC and ELN, and small-time criminals were assassinated.

More:
http://colombiareports.co/key-witness-ex-presidents-brother-turns-run-4-years/

(The "social cleansing" went far beyond the ones mentioned in the article, going as far as murdering street vendors, suspected prostitutes, beggars, poor people, union workers, and anyone living on land someone powerful wanted to take, etc. The paras "distinguished" themselves by terrorizing people in small villages by torturing then mutilating before murdering various members of the community in public, with chainsaws. Stories about their nightmarish attacks on innocent people for the simple purpose of creating stark terror among the people, using chainsaws not because it saved time, but because it traumatized people horrifically, started reaching U.S. citizens years ago.)